THE DEPLOYABLE VEGETABLE PRODUCTION SYSTEM (VEGGIE) WAS ORIGINALLY CONCEIVED BY ORBITEC IN 1996 AS A WAY TO PRODUCE PALATABLE, NUTRITIOUS, AND SAFE FRESH FOOD IN A SPACE HABITAT WITH MINIMAL RESOURCES. IN 2003 A SBIR PHASE I GRANT WAS AWARDED TO PROVIDE DEVELOPMENT OF THE VEGGIE CONCEPT. THE SYSTEM WAS FURTHER DEVELOPED UNDER A SUBSEQUENT PHASE II SBIR AWARDED IN 2004 (CONTRACT NO. NNK04OA5C). THESE TWO SBIR S HAVE LED TO ORBITEC PARTICIPATING IN THE VEGGIE INNOVATIVE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM (IPP) IN 2009-2010 (PHASE III CONTRACT NNK09EA88P) WITH NASA S KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (KSC). AS PART OF THE VEGGIE IPP, ORBITEC ADVANCED THE DESIGN OF THE VEGGIE UNIT CLOSER TO A FLIGHT QUALIFIABLE PACKAGE, DEVELOPED AN UPDATED PROTOTYPE (FIGURE 1) AND CONDUCTED PRELIMINARY VERIFICATION TESTING ON THIS HARDWARE WHICH WAS THEN DELIVERED TO KSC. THIS PROPOSED PHASE III EFFORT UTILIZES THE WORK PREVIOUSLY CONDUCTED TO PROVIDE INPUT TO AND REVIEW, THE PHASE 0/1 VEGGIE SAFETY DATA PACKAGE. IT ALSO PROVIDES TECHNICAL SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS (SME S) TO SUPPORT THE SAFETY PANEL REVIEW AT JOHNSON SPACE CENTER (JSC). THIS EFFORT IS IN SUPPORT OF THE OVERALL EFFORT TO PREPARE THE VEGGIE TO BECOME A PAYLOAD ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS). A THREE-MONTH TEMPLATE (WHICH INCLUDES THE 45 DAYS FOR THE SAFETY REVIEW PANEL REVIEW OF THE PHASE 0/I SAFETY DATA PACKAGE) BUILDS DIRECTLY ON THE VEGGIE IPP AND VEGGIE PHASE II SBIR IS PROPOSED, THOUGH THIS TEMPLATE IS FLEXIBLE TO ENABLE IT TO BE ADAPTED TO CONSTRAINTS IMPOSED BY THE PO, AND MAY BE ACCELERATED IF THE OPPORTUNITY EXISTS. THE PHASE II SBIR, IPP DEVELOPMENTS AND TESTING, AND THE RELATIVELY SIMPLE NATURE OF THE PAYLOAD HARDWARE ALLOW CONSIDERATION OF AN ACCELERATED SCHEDULE POTENTIAL. THE PLAN OF WORK FOR THIS PROJECT CAN BE BROKEN INTO THREE PRIMARY ACTIVITIES. THOSE ACTIVITIES ARE PROVIDING INPUT TO THE PHASE 0/I SAFETY DATA PACKAGE, REVIEW THE PHASE 0/I SAFETY DATA PACKAGE, AND PROVIDE SME S TO ATTEND THE SAFETY REVIEW PANEL AT JSC.